Narcotics affect adenylate cyclase [ATP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing), EC 4.6.1.1] in two opposing ways, both mediated by the opiate receptor. The first process is the readily reversible inhibition of the enzyme by narcotics; the second is a compensatory increase in enzyme activity which is delayed in onset and relatively stable. Late positive regulation of the enzyme counteracts the inhibito...

OBJECTIVE The spatial distribution of neonatal mortality by age-group (0-23 hours, 1-6 days and 7-27 days) in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for two periods of time 1979-81 and 1990-92, is analysed. METHODOLOGY A methodology was used to perform the spatial analysis which took the counties of Rio de Janeiro as the spatial units and "first-nearest-neighbors" as the neighborhood criterion....

introduction : according to drug gateway theory, smoking cigarette, especially, low onset age of smoking, is one of the risk factors for future use. objective the present study deals with comparison of nicotine addicts and opiate addicts in order to identify that what differences in personality traits and onset age of smoking exist in these two groups that cause some individuals to appeal to ot...

Abuse of psychoactive chemicals can result in neurotoxic effects that are difficult to treat medically. Successful therapy is often hindered by the lack of useful antagonists for many of these chemicals and by the extensive distribution of these chemicals out of the bloodstream. Although there are treatments for opiate addiction and an antagonist for opiate overdose, there are no such medical t...

objectives: this study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on craving, symptoms of depression and anxiety among the patients under mmt. methods: in this experimental study, 36 opiate addicts under mmt were selected out of all the patients referring to iranian national center of addiction studies on a judgmental sampling method and were randomly allocated ...

The symptoms of opiate withdrawal in infants are defined as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). NAS is a significant cause of morbidity in term and preterm infants. Factors, such as polysubstance abuse, inadequate prenatal care, nutritional deprivation, and the biology of the developing central nervous system contribute to the challenge of evaluating and treating opiate-induced alterations in t...

OBJECTIVE We aim to examine predictors of opiate abstinence status 3 months after the end of buprenorphine/naloxone treatment for opioid-dependent participants. PATIENTS AND METHODS Participants (n= 516, age > 15 years) received buprenorphine/ naloxone treatment for 4 weeks and then randomly assigned to undergo dose tapering over either 7 days or 28 days. Bivariate analysis was performed to i...

The Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) was established to create a new paradigm for medication-assisted treatment of persons with opiate addiction in the United States. Before enactment of DATA 2000, the use of opioid medications to treat patients with opioid addiction was permissible only in federally approved treatment programs, ie, "methadone clinics." The only medications perm...

Opiate withdrawal is followed by a protracted abstinence syndrome consisting of craving and physiological changes. However, few studies have been dedicated to both the characterization and understanding of these long-term alterations in post-dependent subjects. The aim of the present study was to develop an opiate dependence model, which induces long-lasting behavioral changes in abstinent rats...

Methadone is a mu-opioid receptor agonist used for treating opiate dependence. The range of effective methadone doses is broad. Part of the large inter-individual variability in efficacy may be accounted for by genetic factors. Methadone is a substrate of the transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp) 170 that is encoded by the ABCB1 (MDR1) gene. Thus, P-gp variants may play a role in methadone absorpti...